The world's biggest telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies is to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide, representing 10% of its workforce.
The move, part of a plan to cut $2bn in costs after a number of profit warnings last year, came as Lucent announced first quarter losses of just over $1bn, much worse than expected.
10,000 jobs will go by the end of March, while Lucent said it would expand the use of contract workers, which will result in another 6,000 job cuts by the end of the year.
Lucent employs just under 1,000 in Ireland, but a spokesperson said it was too early to say how the news would affect the Irish operations.
The spokesperson said around 75% of the cuts were likely to be in the US, but there was no breakdown for individual countries yet.
